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General informations about domain names

A domain name is the easiest way to find a homepage and simplifies the process for your customers or friends to find the way to your homepage. A domain name is composed of a Second-Level-Domain and a Top-Level-Domain. For example domains.ch, domains is the Second-Level-Domain, while .ch is the Top-Level-Domain. The host name (usually www) may be chosen by the customer himself and does not need to be reserved for its own.

The Top-Level-Domains are like Telephone Country Codes. Each country own its own Top-Level-Domain (Switzerland = .ch, Germany = .de etc.). Top-Level-Domains are administrated in each country by a so called Network Information Center (NIC). At domains.ch you may register domain names from a large number of different TLDs - we handle all the international handling. Since 2013 new generic TLDs (gTLDs) are available, like .blog or .world.

A domain name must be made of characters or numbers. The only permitted special character is the hyphen (-). The domain name must not start or end with a hyphen. In some domains, umlauts and accents (ä,ü,ö:, é, â etc.) are not permitted.

Basically, the rules applies: First Come - First Served. Nevertheless, there are some basic rules to consider. For example the owner of a brand normally also has the right for the correspondig domain name. In Switzerland, name of Cantons or Communes cannot be registered. As we offer a wide range of different Top-Level-Domains, the chance that you can reserve your wanted domain name is kept very high.

Registration of domain names

The registration of most domain names can be processed within 24 hours, depending on the according Top-Level-Domain. As each TLD has it's own registration-center, the time to register a domain name may vary. domains.ch works with strongly optimized automatic processes to register domains at the corresponding NIC as fast as possible.

No - as your registration is transfered automatically to the corresponding NIC, mistakenly ordered domain names may not be canceled. Please always double-check if you do not have any typos on your order.

Basically yes - assuming that the domain name is still available and does not stay in conflict with applicable law. For example for the Top-Level-Domain .cn (China), there may not be registered any domain names which target against the chinese executive, harm national interests, raise public annoyance or may serve for pornographic purposes.

A domain name cannot be bought and is just rented for a period of time. After the expiration of a current period (normally 1 to 10 years), you always have the right to extend your rental. You will receive from us all needed informations in time.

With the registration of a domain name itself you do still not have a homepage. For this you need a so called "Hosting-Provider", who can redirect all the requests to your domain name to a corresponding internet-server. domains.ch also offers hosting-services. More informations are available at http://domains.ch/en/home/webhosting.

Costs of domain names

Domain names may be reserved for one or more years and be used accordingly. For each Country/Top-Level-Domain, the prices do vary. A detailed overview of all the costs for domain names you can find here.

If you wish to transfer your domain name to another person, this can also be done using the Online-Administration-Interface. For legal reasons, on some TLDs we are in need of a written permission from the current holder to perform this transfer. You will receive from us a PDF-File by e-mail, which has to be filled out and returned.

A DNS-Server (Domain Name System) translates IP-addresses into domain names. To make your domain name reachable over the internet, two different DNS-Servers need to be configured correctly. These entries are normally made by your hosting-providers.

If you do not have a separate hosting for your domain names, you may forward your domain names to an existing homepage. To do this, please use the Web-Settings on the Online-Administration-Interface of domains.ch

Domain search and additional information

The Hitanalyzer helps you with additional information about a domain. Where possible, information on technology, trust values, archive information, historical screenshots and old cache versions of the website, keywords in context, social media information, trademark protection information and any legal disputes relating to domains are shown.

For some years now, conflicts concerning the rightful domain owner have been taking place at WIPO in Geneva and others. WIPO is the World Intellectual Property Organization. The arbitration court decides according to the widely accepted UDRP method (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy). We show on domains.ch for each domain in the Hitanalyzer whether there was a procedure at WIPO or is still running and also try to show if there were problems with similar domain names with a different extension. This can be useful additional information when deciding whether a domain can be purchased without risk. Further information on WIPO and UDRP can be found at http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/

We have two types of premium domains. Some registries (publishers of domains) charge higher fees for attractive domains than for normal domains right from the start. In these cases the price is not always clear, but has to be requested in some cases. We mark these domains with a special "request checkbox". Enquiries are non-binding and cost nothing.

The other premium domains are domains that have been registered for some time and the current owner is willing to sell them. Usually such domains are registered with domain broker portals such as Sedo. In these cases we link directly to the portals where the domains can be bought or auctioned.

We display suitable keywords for domains at different places on domains.ch. These keywords should provide additional ideas for attractive domain registrations. A click on a keyword creates a new search for free domain names with this keyword.

Many attractive domain names are already registered. That is why we show matching synonyms, i.e. further words with the same meaning. A click on a synonym creates a new domain search with this alternative word.

To avoid registrations of misspelled words, we show a hint for obviously mistyped search terms and domain names. If you are looking for "galery", for example, "Did you mean gallery?" appears. Even personal names are partially corrected if you look for "barakobama" you are asked if you meant "barack obama". This sometimes also works for lesser-known people, e.g. when searching for "frank meiyer".

My account at domains.ch

To better protect your domains, we offer the possibility of two-factor authentication.

You can set in your settings that with every login to your customer account you will additionally receive an SMS with an access code. The procedure is the same as for banks or WLAN access. You can exclude certain computers individually from two-factor authentication.

Every customer can pay in any credit balance at his own request. If domain and hosting invoices become due again, the amounts can be easily and conveniently debited from an existing credit balance. With the help of a credit, discounts of up to 10% can also be realized.